| Big hi out there to all who is reading this!
Okay, my name (well, derby wise) is Coco Pow. I live in Arizona and I am on the Phoenix Derby Brats (a.k.a. the Bruising Brats). I started my derby career in October of 2010 and I want to let other people know about how I have dealt with my problems that I have faced when I was just starting.
Derby: For now, we'll just stick with the facts. Derby is not a very well-known sport. It also has a bad reputation too. Only people who have met the girls on the teams and been watching and supporting derby for a very long time can see derby as a fun and life-changing past-time that it is. Derby, as you know, is seen as a very violent and harmful sport, but anyone who has actually played derby will tell you differently. The point of the game is not to just find satisfaction in hurting someone, but to play the game. Yes, derby has hitting, but its not the kind that is trying to hurt someone. This is what a lot of people don't get when they think of derby is that when a girl hits another, we aren't just trying to hurt someone, we are doing our job and our job is to get our jammer through the pack to score the most point while making sure the other jammer is stuck in the pack and not scoring points. Having played derby I can safely say that when I hit another player, I don't feel very good. After the jam, if I've really knocked them down, then I do go over and apologize, and the same goes for any other person on my team.
Pros of Derby: how its changed my life From the day that I am writing this, one year ago I can tell you exactly what I was compared to who I am now. One year ago, I was a shy girl with no self confidence, people who had known me for years still didn't always understand me because I was like Chinese food. Unappetizing at first, then getting unexpected surprises as you keep eating the dish, being afraid of what you will find next. I had ingrediates that no one would touch, and my true self was locked away, only seen by my family and the occasional person who I could trust my life with. Now, I am a confident and open derby girl and I am better friends with the girls on my team whom I've only known for 7 months then people that I have known my whole life. Now, I am like a bowl of Jello. When you meet me, you know what you getting and what I'm going to taste like. Not only that, but you change physically as well. I hid behind my hair, like I was putting and curtain between me and the rest of the world, not wanting anyone to know me. I also was a little over weight, and I usually didn't look that healthy because the expression I kept on my face was meant to make people look over me, through me, not at me. Now I hold my head up high, I have lost 20 pounds in 4 months and for the first time in my life, I can actually attract male attention. Not only that, but the muscles you build are worth having. Its like I shed my old skin, and grew a new one. Some of the other perks of derby is the friendship. As I said earlier, the girls on my team know me better then people I have known all my life. Why? Because you bond with girls who you have to forget every sense of personal space and modesty because you cannot play the sport if you can't bring yourself up to have to touch another girls' butt. Not only that, but you are all cheering for each other, you are always helping your teammates and just being girls and having a good time. In my league, you can join the team if you are between the ages 12-17 and happen to own a pair of skates and other derby necessities. I have friends who are as young as 12 and in 6th grade and girls who are 16 and juniors in high school. This is a great way to meet new people and it teaches you how loyalty to your friends is important. Through derby, I have found my best friends, and a soul sister. Her real name is the same as mine, we both have younger (obnoxious) sisters, without meaning too, we got the same kind of skates. At one point she had a boyfriend named Michael and I had a boyfriend named Michael. When those relationships ended, they ended in the same week. Both of our derby names have something to do with breakfast cereal, so we are called things such as, breakfast, the cereals, or the best one is the cereal killers. We would have never found each other if it hadn't been for derby.
So thats all for this week. More is coming and some of the upcoming topics will be the following: -bearings: their brands, rating, and the do's and don'ts -you know your a derby girl if... -problems with your teammates -derby injuries: the risks you take So keep following if you are interesting in a. joining derby, b. watching derby, or c. are in derby and just want to learn about my experiences as I begin my derby career.
My fact for the week: never doubt duck tape...it will rule the world one day.
Remember it's good to be a brat, Coco Pow |
Well said. Since you commented on how roller-derby changed you this is a comment on what I have seen as a change in you. You are becoming more aware of yourself as a person. You see yourself as a real thing, a valuable real thing. This is a process that many of us either ignore or partake of in stops & starts because it can be painful to see ourselves, not as others see us but as we see our self. Good luck on this journey and don't let any of us 'other people' get in the way of your journey.
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